Responding to journalists’ questions, the Director of the Holy See Press Office, Matteo Bruni, confirmed on Thursday, 20 April, that “the fragments of the relic of the True Cross were donated by the Holy See in early April, through the Apostolic Nunciature, to His Majesty King Charles III ”, sovereign of the United Kingdom and Supreme Governor of the Church of England, “as an ecumenical gesture on the occasion of the centenary of the Anglican Church in Wales”.
The communiqué was circulated in reference to the gift of two small wooden fragments of the cross upon which, according to Christian tradition, Jesus was crucified. Earlier this month, the precious relics were delivered from the Vatican where they were being kept, to the Royal Chapel of St James in London. The news was later reported in the British media and confirmed in a tweet by the ambassador to the Holy See, Christopher Trott. It was then relayed by Monsignor Ervin Lengyel, advisor to the Apostolic Nunciature in Great Britain, on his Twitter account.
